Optical fibers are used for a wide range of optics- and optics-electronics-based applications and systems. In essentially all such applications and systems, light needs to be coupled into and out of the optical fiber in some manner.
One way light is coupled into and out of optical fibers is through the use of optical fiber lenses. An optical fiber lens is a lens that resides at an end of an optical fiber. The optical fiber lens serves to couple light into and/or out of the optical fiber according to the particular needs of the system or application. Optical fiber lenses are used, for example, in optical fiber connectors and optical-coherence-tomography applications.
Several types of optical fiber lenses that are available have light-turning capability. However, such lenses include separate molded parts such as mirrors and lenses that need to be added to the optical fiber. The need for manufacturing separate parts and aligning them during manufacturing adds cost to the fiber-lens system.